Hills, “motte-castles” & art journal spreads

Good morning lovely ones, here’s another piece of chatter from my part of the world… Zeeland (the Netherlands.) We all are waiting for Spring overhere or at least I AM because days are a bit grey an chilly lately… I guess my longing for Spring made me choose this photo to write a haiku with.

I submit this haiku to Recuerda Mi Corazon where our lovely hostess Rebecca brings us all together to share a haiku on Friday: Haiku my Heart.

You may ask: “what is that lonesome ‘hill’ doing there in the middle of that meadow and – of all places – in Zeeland?!” After all, Zeeland (the province of the Netherlands where I live) consists of islands and peninsulas interconnected by dams and bridge and the area is very flat.

Well, that ‘hill’ is a ‘mound’ (or “Hillock.”) Those are earthen hills built in the 11th century as residential hills. In later centuries there were often defense towers – “motte-castles” – built on. A motte-and-bailey castle is a wooden or stone fortification situated on a raised earthwork. Those buildings are long gone now, but the hills can still be found in the landscape, around a dozen on ‘my island’ Walcheren.

OK, enough with the history lessons… let’s move on to some creativity: I have two art journal spreads to show you.

The Chronicles are handmade visual year-journals in which I create a weekly spread. On the pages I comment and reflect my days or just try to capture the week in words and pictures. I first started a Chronicles journal in 2010 so this year I am filling my 10th Chronicles journal (you can see all these journals in the gallery on my website.)

The Chronicles of Marit 2019 – Week 10

The Chronicles of Marit 2019 – Week 11

I wish you all a nice day and weekend
bring in the sun and keep on rockin’ in the free world!

My art can be found in galleries on my website.Unless otherwise stated, all photos, images, thoughts and stories on the website as well as on this blog are my own (Marit Barentsen aka Marit's Paper World.) If you see something you want to share, please link back to my site to give credit where credit is due. If you have questions about using my work, please contact me. Thank you!